Use Mac running Indigo as extra sensor

[Benwin]

Is it possible to use the main mac running indigo as another BLE sensor? It seems a waste having a Pi sitting tight next to it.

Thanks
Ben

[kw123]

could be possible.. my indigo mac is an old one that does not have BLE.. difficult to test.., but may be on my other mac.. will think about it .

The $50 for a complete RPI ( incl box, SSD, power) is cheap compared to $$$ for the mac and using 10% CPU to listen to BLE traffic coming in .

But the idea of using the BLE capabilities of the mac is interesting.. the MAC though has many more complexities (security for one) to access peripherals to make it work.

The only problem I have with my RPIs are the SSD .. every else is at 110% of my expectations

Karl

[Busta999]

Is it possible to use the main mac running indigo as another BLE sensor? It seems a waste having a Pi sitting tight next to it.

Thanks
Ben

https://store.radiusnetworks.com/products/macbeacon

A Mac iBeacon.

May give it a go.

The MAC Mini runs 24x7 already for Indigo, camera management and media streaming.




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[Different Computers]

You mean as a Beacon, not sensor, right?

[Busta999]

Yup as a beacon, I am well out of my depth here, just trying to find a way to automatically, reliably detect when no one is in the house.


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[johnpolasek]

Yup as a beacon, I am well out of my depth here, just trying to find a way to automatically, reliably detect when no one is in the house.


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We tried a number of different ideas and finally went with everybody carrying tiles and/or fitbits with a Pi near each door. When number of "family" beacons home goes to 0, doors lock and motion sensors arm, when number of family beacons home becomes > 0, motion sensors disarm, when any family beacon changes to "up", closest rPi door unlocks if it's locked... It's been working out fairly well over the past month or so. We do have a "bypass" variable to prevent the motion sensors from arming when the exterminator, for example, has to use his one time code to get in, but that's very rare.

[Busta999]

Thanks, we use Tiles on all the keys and I have a gen 2 pi, so pretty close to getting something working.


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[Different Computers]

I've started watching my notifications in Home Remote for geofencing, and it seems to be more reliable than it once was. So that's an option. It's a painfully awkward interface, but it's a cheap iOS app with its own forum here.

[johnpolasek]

I've started watching my notifications in Home Remote for geofencing, and it seems to be more reliable than it once was. So that's an option. It's a painfully awkward interface, but it's a cheap iOS app with its own forum here.

So have they solved the problem of the IPhones either going to sleep and dropping out of the list or burning through their entire battery capacity in less than a day?

[Different Computers]

List?

Here's what Home Remote does for me: when I enter a defined geofence, it triggers a specified Indigo Action Group. HR does not keep any sort of list of devices.

Occasionally, I notice a delay in picking up an iBeacon for a different trigger, and that might be related to the phone sleeping.

[johnpolasek]

List?

Occasionally, I notice a delay in picking up an iBeacon for a different trigger, and that might be related to the phone sleeping.

When I tried it several months ago, depending on how I had various background programs configured, either the phone would go dead after 6 to 10 hours if I had something GPS (map my run, Trimble outdoors, google maps, etc) configured to run in the background, or the geofence action would trigger fine for about 10 ,minutes or so after I had last used the phone and then never again until I brought the phone up again (say to check email a couple of hours and 20 miles later). and it did it for the 5, 6, and 6s that comprise all the family phones that I set up. It wasn't "occasional"; it was 100%, just like trying to track the phones in PiBeacon.

[Different Computers]

All I can tell you is that in my 4-5 days of testing with my iPhone SE, it's working fine.

[johnpolasek]

When I have a little time, I'll try again... particularly because it allows geofences to be located away from the house.. but as I said, for alarm enable/disable and door unlock functions the tiles and fitbits are also capable of doing a great job... and once the new $10 Pi0Ws actually become available, it won't be that expensive (and adds alarm switch, sensor, and display capabilities everywhere you can hide one).